John Waylon

Lakers Kings 76ers Bulls in the play-in. I wanted the Bucks. I want Giannis to play every game. No excuses. We went 4-1 against them this season BEFORE we added Siakam. I’m ready for this series and I think we pull it out. We match up well against them.

I tend to think this is why Ballard may have gotten some extra leash from Irsay. Imagine you’re Irsay. For the last 30 years you’ve worked with Polian, Grigson, and Ballard. Ballard has got to be the friendliest and easiest of that group to get along with. To sit just down and talk with on the human level. Polian was too business minded to ever learn to be friendly, and Grigson was as desirable as a shady used car salesman. Ballard has got to easily be the most likable that Jim has worked with since the Clinton administration.

While I don’t expect a disaster (say 6 wins or less,) I see us being on the wrong end of a wild card race yet again. The frustration with the defense this season is going to be palpable.

I’d like to think so but I do believe he’s safe for at least one more.

It should. It absolutely should.

No one is put off by the fact that we didn’t get Diggs. Most of us didn’t want him and are on the record as such when that thread was a thing. It’s the fact that, yet again, a team in the division is getting better, and in this case the price is salt in the wound. The Texans paid a very fair price for the return they should get on this investment. In all reality it’s going to be a bottom 10 2nd round pick. The other picks are so insignificant I’m not going to list them. And this is a good move for the Texans. That offense got better today. We haven’t gotten better in any way since the season ended. Today was nothing more than a jab in the wound.

Even with Peyton * Manning on those teams Polian was still better able to stock this team with talent that could play and not go out there and cost us games. Ballard is to Polian what Trent Dilfer is to Tom Brady. They have the same job title, and that’s where all the comparisons end.

Trust the binder. Or something stupid like that…

Ballard taking another DE with a premium pick? At least he can’t make a worse pick than Banogu, I guess. I hope… Maybe the 5th time is the charm.

The division continues to improve while we continue to be stuck in neutral.

Damn. Hate to hear stuff like this.

It was one of the first things he tried to make a point of when he took the job. I believe it was also reiterated yet again during the Brissett/Rivers/Wentz period. https://www.colts.com/news/chris-ballard-jacked-to-build-team-of-problem-solvers-with-colts-18519350 Now, a pair of presidencies later, it seems to be an awful lot about one guy, and we still need “problem solvers” at multiple positions.

I think it’s a fool’s errand to try to recreate the legion of boom. It’s going to be hard for any GM to go on a run of draft hits that click together like those guys did and just work. Gus is going to do whatever Gus is going to do. It certainly couldn’t be worse with better players.

If he comes out and decides he wants to throw everything he’s ever done out the window and start calling new more aggressive games, who is he going to ask to go out there on the field and carry that stuff out? Yeah, we need to blitz more because our pass rush doesn’t get home enough. Who do we send? Who helps alleviate the increased pressure on the secondary with sending someone? There’s no dog in that secondary that you can rely on to keep a blitz from blowing up in our face. Theres no dog on that defense that can go on a blitz and provide any more chances pressure than what we’re already getting. He’s just as hamstrung by the talent he’s been given to work with as he is by his own shortcomings. One problem just accentuates the other. And he’ll turn into the fall guy for it, then a new guy will come in and likely wind up fighting the same kind of uphill battle, even if he does blitz and disguise coverages.

Merriam-Webster defines scapegoat simply as “one who bears the blame for others”. Is Bradley a good DC? No. How is it even remotely possible for him to improve with what he has to work with? Give a % cook % ingredients and you get a % meal. After that plays out before our eyes this fall and the defense serves up % sandwiches by the platter full, they’ll fire Bradley and bring in a new guy, all because they stunted any ability Gus had to be any better at his job this season, and because they’ll say someone else could have done better. He’s bearing the blame for his superiors stocking the cupboard with spare parts, and he’s a bad DC. These are not mutually exclusive truths. In fact, they’re issues that compound each other. Ballard will skate away from the defensive dumpster fire after the season free of any blame because he was able to foist it all off on the bad DC. How is that not scapegoating?

Bradley will have the finger pointed at him next, as if we’ve done #all to do anything help the defense. Even Gordon Ramsay couldn’t cook an edible meal with 2 mustard packets, a half-spoiled grape, and a can or sardines. How anyone could expect this defense to take any kind of measurable step in the right direction with the lack of help we’ve given it so far this offseason and by adding whoever we do in the draft is beyond me. We’ve set him up to fail, and he will be the next sacrifice for the Ballard excusers to finger as “the problem”.

Just go look at our own list of misses and flat-out whiffs. It’ll provide nearly as much work as tracking what the rest of the league has done over that same period and you’ll have the advantage, at least in theory, of being familiar with the source material.

Hopefully Mitchell is still available at 15. More hopefully Ballard doesn’t trade back and pass on him like he did the corners in FA.

Building through the draft is fine. … If you can do it. Too many of Ballard’s day 1 and 2 picks are just absolute bombs. Theres some hits, lots of JAGs, and waaaay too many guys who don’t even become JAGs. The bad outweighs the good when it comes to Ballard in the first 3 rounds. He may be the best GM in the draft on day 3, but days 1 and 2 are suspect at best. His method of drafting guys with lime green RAS bars has produced mediocre results. We’ve seen what he can build through the draft. A team that sinks multiple picks in the first two days of the draft in the same room and STILL needs to do it again the next year because the need has not been filled. Now that list of rooms is growing.

The Titans did what?

Send in the clowns.

Guys want to play for Ryans right now. I’d bet dollars to donuts that being able to go play for Ryans made a significant impact on his decision to go down there. Ryans is going to be a better Mike Vrabel.

I just don’t want to stunt AR’s growth in any way with undue pressure. I don’t want him to have to develop that same Superman mentality (no pun intended,) that Luck had to, and Peyton before him had to as well. And the organization has made it a point that they want to avoid that as well. Richardson is still a very young player. And I don’t mean as in his age, I mean his time playing the QB position. He’s still a very young player and his plate is already full enough with learning all that goes along with that. One of the best ways we can help him on game day is to give him a defense that doesn’t go out and cough up more points when he comes to the sidelines. With a guy like Luck or Peyton we had guys who had trained their whole lives in the QB arts and had plenty of experience. Richardson really hasn’t. I don’t want to start getting into big deficits where Richardson has to come out and throw a ton and start forcing him into making mistakes he might not otherwise. The other big factor at play here is that our division isn’t getting any easier in the foreseeable future. Myself personally, I’m definitely weary of the Texans and what Ryans is building down there. I think Stroud is going to be a very tough out for a long time. While we’re standing still, they’re getting markedly better. Too many around here overlooking the Texans because “we’re going to get better in our second year”. Ok, so are the Texans. So we’re just giving up ground to them in this holding pattern while we wait to see what Richardson turns out to be. Like you, I don’t have any faith in Bradley as a DC, but how could he ever have a chance with what he had to work with last season and being given again this season and some rookies? What DC could have success under those perimeters? There’s just not many masters served by standing still like we seem to be so content to do.